Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it probably isn't mine.

A/N: I apologise if there is anything in this chapter that upset's anyone. I also apologise if there are any mistakes or errors in spelling.

Chapter 9

No POV

2 years and 3 months after

The huge metal doors flew open with an explosive force, but she didn't even flinch. She could hear them, all the men, both the old and the new. Their voices inside her mind, their memories and feelings and thoughts. She leant her head against the back bars of her small cage, the chain around her neck clinking and the collar heavy, but the feeling of the metal was comforting. She looked down at her left arm and even though they weren't there she could see the numbers branded into her arm as they had been to another.

She began to scratch at the area, trying to get the numbers off. She didn't even realise her cage had been unlocked until a hand touched hers. She looked up at the man with wide green eyes, huge in her sunken and starved face. "Shh, it's ok Sweetheart. My name is Phil and I'm here to take you home ok?" She looked at him, blinking. Surely this was a dream or she had finally died. No one was coming for her, they had told her so and the only people that cared weren't anywhere near here. Home wasn't anywhere near here and no one knew how to get back to it, but at least if she was free she could maybe learn how to get back.

She shied away from him as he tried to take the collar from around her neck. She caught a glimpse of herself in his thoughts and was shocked. Every bone on her body stood out in stark contrast to her skin, stretching it tight. The old scar on her cheek was a slightly sunken gouge in her face. Her hair hung matted around her face and there was thick welts on the exposed areas of her skin. Where had the little warrior gone? She thought. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to take it off ok?" She nodded, her voice gone after so long not using it.

He moved forward again and she stilled, ready to fight if it came to that. It didn't as he gently eased the collar from around her neck and beckoned her out of the cage. She crept forward gingerly and looked around the room, every other child's eyes on her. They would follow her lead and she saw that in their thoughts, she was their leader, the strongest and bravest of them. She moved out into the light and accepted being carried by Phil. He took her away from the cage and out into the sunlight.

She blinked away from the first natural light her skin had seen in two years. "Shh it's ok, keep your eyes covered ok?" He murmured to her and she nodded, tucking her head into his neck, feeling some what safe for the first time in years. When she looked up next she was tucked inside a plane, the metal soothing around her and she looked up at her rescuer. His kind eyes looked down at her and his hand lightly stroked the top of her head, his thoughts and memories rushing through her mind like a quick succession. She turned around as one of the older boys began to retch and cough.

She darted across the plane on unsteady legs and crouched down. This was always how it started, the coughing. His body was rejecting the serum that had been injected into his body. She looked up into his eyes and he nodded, he knew what was coming. She slid onto the bench next to him and put her thin arms around him. Despite being taller than her he curled up into her and she stroked a hand across his forehead. "Sweetheart, what's going on?" Her rescuer asked her and she looked at him with sad eyes. He inhaled. "We need a medic, this boy is sick." He called out as the boy in her arms began to cough again and she shook her head at the man. It was too late there was no saving the boy in her arms.

She leant forward and pressed her forehead to his, her hair covering his face and her mind reaching out to touch his. I am so sorry. She whispered into his mind, as she did with all the others that had died since they had been injected. All fourteen of them, well fifteen of them now. It's ok, I want the pain to end. I'm glad you're here. Keep this hidden though. Don't let any of them know that the serum worked. Keep living and make sure this never happens again to kids like us. He whispered and began to shudder violently, she pulled his pain into her body. He deserved to die in peace, just like the others. She clenched her eyes shut and felt tears begin to build behind her eye lids as she felt another mind go blank.

She pressed a kiss to the boys forehead as he took his last breath and looked up at her rescuer, tears sliding down her face as one by one the other children began to shake and cry. She looked down, brushing his hair back from his face and gently moved away for the adults to work. She moved over to the others and they all reached out towards her, curling up in a huge ball of bodies, each of them crying. All except her, she would stay strong for them, she thought brushing the tears that had fallen away. She would keep them safe.

She jolted as the plane landed and she blinked rapidly as the voices flooded into her mind. She flinched away from both the bright lights and the voices. The others froze waiting for her to stand, to follow where she led them. She stood shakily and moved following her rescuer. He smiled down at her and she tilted her head to the side. Was his kindness genuine? It seemed to be. They were led towards a medical facility were they were treated and poked and prodded by the doctors. It was halfway through this that she darted away from the doctors helping her to run towards the next room as the last girl besides her began to cry.

She darted around all the people and clambered up onto the bed, the girl clung to her and she swept a hand across her head. You are not alone, I'm here. I'm so sorry. She whispered into her mind as the girl pressed her face into her neck. Thank you. She pressed a kiss to her forehead, taking the pain away as much as she could. Pain didn't bother her anymore, she could ignore it. The girl shuddered and went limp in her arms the doctors soon began to push her away and look at the little girl. She slunk away from the room and back to her own.

Morning found that two more of the boys, the twins, were beginning to cough. Phil was there waiting for her and watched her as she tried to enter the room. The doctors pushed her back out. "Let her in it will calm them down. The least we can do it let them die in peace." He snapped out at the doctors and they shook their heads. "She needs to stay out there." Phil came and crouched down next to her, "I'm sorry you can't go in there." She was tempted just to throw them all out of the way with her mind, but she remembered the promise she made yesterday. She settled for looking in the window, Phil a quiet presence by her side. Her power crawling under her skin, begging to be let out.

She reigned it in and steeled herself. She would be strong like her mountain, proud as any Durin and she would survive, she would live and find her way back home. Nothing was going to stop her from doing that, her nadad's and naman deserved to know she was alive again. She stayed silent and cooperative throughout the rest of their time in the hospital and when they were moved to a house, with sickeningly nice people looking after them and babying them. She didn't need to be treated like she was porcelain and would break with the slightest breeze, she was a child of the line of Durin. Her finger ached for her daggers, her power, her magic crawled under her skin and that was never a good thing.

She sat in the day room of the house they had been placed in and looked out at the garden. There had been 26 children all those years ago, now there was only eight. How many of them would make it? She shuddered and blinked when she heard the door open. She turned to look at the men, one of them was Phil and he smiled down at her. The other was a dark skinned man with a patch over one eye. She flinched and stood, ready to run, this man scared her. "Its ok Anna, your safe." Phil said coming over and holding her hand. She blinked and looked at him, she hadn't spoken a word since they had found her, but Phil had come to know what she meant. It brought pain and sadness to her thoughts, she longed for her lost family, for her grandfather.

"My name is Colonel Nicholas Fury. I need your help. The man who did this to you and the others is going on trial in court and we have a lot of evidence to convict him, but the thing that would really sway the jury is the eight of you getting up and saying what you can. We need your help to put this monster away for good. If you help us I promise not to let this happen again, to stop any other children from going through what you have." She read his mind and he really did want her help. She tilted her head to the side for a minute before nodding. "I'll help you." She said, but it wasn't English that came out, it was German. She blinked and frowned.

"Thank you. Can you speak English?" She wanted to say yes, but it seemed that her mind was not complying, so she shook her head. They nodded and said they would get her a translator for the trial. Phil squeezed her shoulder as they left in thanks and she smiled faintly. She would make sure that he didn't get away with this, she would make sure he was thrown into a pit and never got out. She would do this for the others and the ones who's dying memories and thoughts haunted her dreams.

It was barely a week later that the trial got underway, the children were given clothes that despite being the right ones for other children their ages, still hung off their gaunt frames. She could hear the whispers around the courtroom, both mental and spoken, the pity and sadness that was directed at them, at her for being the only girl left alive. She watched as the judge came out and started talking, as the demon sat on a chair, like it was a throne at the front looking over at them and smirking. She saw many of the jury watching her and the seven boys sat around her, seeing how the boys cowered away from him like he was going to win and come after them again. Well he couldn't have her, she was so much stronger than he knew.

She straightened her spine and pretended it was one of the Ironfist bastards who had come to take her grandfathers throne, by kidnapping her. She saw how her face changed from that of a nervous, frightened child to the proud face of a Princess. She held her head high, made her face completely blank and devoid of all emotion, but let her eyes show the anger and pain she had felt. She saw him look over at her and she tried to pretend he didn't exist. It worked that first day as all the evidence was heard against him. The second day was more difficult to deal with.

They had to give evidence, the boys going first, before they put her in the box. She tried to pretend that it was the throne in Erebor, that grandfather was stood behind her and at that thought a warmth drifted down her spine, Remember little one, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. She straightened her spine and stared the demon in the eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking, careful to think in German and not in Khuzdul. She told her tale from being taken from the street until the day she had been rescued, unlike the boys she didn't stumble over words or memories, she let the tears form but not fall. She had survived being kidnapped, stabbed and homelessness, she could survive this bastard.

She spoke softly, but kept the slight tint of pain that coloured her speech. She had the advantage over him, she could hear how the jury were reacting. How they were angry, sad and disgusted at what had happened to these children. She was finishing her final part of her tale when one of the boys, he was only nine began to start coughing. The bastard sighed, disappointed that another one was dying. She darted out of the box as the boy began to cry, his body convulsing strongly. She hugged him close to her, his reaction stronger than anyone else's had been since the first few deaths. She stroked his forehead, humming softly under her breath as his coughs became wetter and redder. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll make sure he pays, he will forever regret what he has done to us. She told him.

He nodded, tears now tinged with pink ran down his face and his breath rattled out to a stop. She froze, before laying him down and moving back as the medics came in. They began to try and bring him back and she spoke louder than she had in the chair, but still softly. "Don't, don't bring him back to the pain. Let him be at peace, at least let him have that. After everything that has been taken from us, let him have his peace." She heard the translator echo her words, hearing the jury gasp. She turned and looked down, seeing the blood covering her stomach. She looked over at the monster and she walked up to him, her head held high. "I hope you spend your days rotting in a cage, like you made us do. I hope when you die, it's in agony and all alone. You deserve nothing more and a lot less." She told him, walking back to sit on the chair. Even his own lawyer was looking at him like he was filth.

The bastard chuckled, "You will die last, I can see it. You are the strongest one out of them all. You will fight the effects for as long as you can, it's just such a shame that it didn't work on you. It's amazing really, seven doses of that serum and you are still breathing, yet those that only had one are dead." She flinched, her mask dropping as he spoke. "Oh yes you remember it don't you, being stuck over and over with the needles, strapped helpless to that table." He chuckled darkly and she flinched, her memory bringing to the forefront each time that he spoke of. She began to shake and suddenly Phil was beside her, taking her away from the chair. She struggled against his hold and when he put her down she darted over to the monster.

She tipped his chair over and stood over him, "I wish you the most painful and slow death you could ever imagine. I want you to know what it feels like to burn from the inside out, feel your blood boil and the fire creep along your nerves. I want you to feel every second of the pain and do what I NEVER did. I want you to beg and know that you are weaker than a child, than a girl. I want you to know that I was never broken." She told him, the translators English washing over her. He tried to rise as she suddenly felt all the rage of being locked away in a cage bubble up inside her. He grabbed her arms and pulled her to him, suddenly she could hear adad's voice instructing her. She pulled her head away from him and he grinned, thinking her scared. She slammed her head forwards, smirking in satisfaction at the crunch of his nose breaking under her vicious headbutt.

Phil quickly scooped her up again, but she knew that her actions had not changed the jury's mind on what way they would vote. The judge called for them to adjourn and make a judgement, which would be heard the next day. Phil took her out of the courtroom and back to the house. "That probably wasn't a very good idea, but then again it does give some satisfaction I suppose." She grinned, nodding her head. She slept uneasily that night, memories of the cage surfacing and mixing with the one of the cell she had been in when she was kidnapped. When she woke the next morning she slipped the token around her neck that she had made her grandfather, then another leather strap that had a small pouch hanging off it. She tucked that under her clothes, keeping all her dwarvish gifts close to her heart, remembering her nadad's words. You truly are a dwarf at heart. She braided her hair simply and let it hang down her back, loving that her hair was still long even after everything.

Phil sat in the row behind her and the boys, a hand resting on the wood of the bench next to her. She knew it was meant as a comfort, but she had decided overnight during one of her bouts of sleeplessness, that she would never again be as weak as the child she had been in that cage. She was going to make sure that whatever was thrown at her, she would survive it and come out stronger. The jury filed out and she absently fiddled with the little token. A older man stood up and walked over to the judge, who gestured for him to read the paper. "We, the people of the jury, find Dr Andrew Jackson, guilty of child abuse, sexual assault, murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, torture and administration of illegal substances to minors. We demand that he get the maximum sentence possible and given no option for parole." Her heart unclenched as the words were read out.

She could now disappear without worrying he would come after her, she had spoken to the other boys and they would use her gift to stay in touch, but they encouraged her to disappear and get away from the memories. Four of them had told her that the didn't think they would last much longer and the other two were beginning to unravel, by the end of the year she would be all alone and she could not stand to see more death. She had her fill of it with dragonfire and impossible battles. When Phil dropped her back at the house that night she waited until their carers were asleep, hugged all the boys goodbye and sat in her room, a finger tracing the letter that had arrived yesterday from out of nowhere. She rolled her eyes at the wording, 'It was your mother's wish that you attend this school. To get there please speak it's name to the parchment enclosed and you will be taken there.' She didn't care about her mother's wishes, but from the name of the school it was abroad and would be far away from what had happened here.

She packed up all she could and watched it shrink to fit in her bag, her magic humming beneath her skin. She looked around and saw the note she had written for Phil. Inside it had simply said, "I am sorry to leave, but I need to. Thank you for reminding me that men can be good. Anna." She gave one last look around the room, tucked the parchment into her pocket and climbed out the window, quickly scaling the drainpipe and running across the grass. When she knew she was out of sight of all the cameras, she stroked her finger across the name and whispered it to the wind, disappearing with a pop.

A/N:Right as I said this is very much a WTF chapter, some of it will be explained in the next chapter, and some of it will be explained later in the story, but I promise that it will all be explained :)

The plan for the next few chapters:

Chapter 10: Ariana (in progress with the HP parts in it)

Chapter 11: Bilbo (in progress)

Chapter 12: Ori or Filí (Trolls)

Chapter 13: Balin (This is probably going to be Rivendell)